My inspiration for the book cover came from my experience as a 6th grade Earth/Space science teacher. I aimed for an engaging and beautiful book cover that would interest middle school students about the world of science. So many textbooks tend to be bland or only include one image. Textbooks are already an uninteresting book to students so making the cover more exciting is the least we can do in order to make education more engaging.

I created a book cover that encompasses the main ideas behind the previous 6th grade science curriculum: Earth and Space, through the use of landforms, natural environments, and the night sky. I believe my book cover is colorful and updated, possibly interesting middle school students into exploring the galaxy! I used images of a galaxy, mountain, and forest to represent the various concepts learned in a 6th grade Earth/Space Science class, such as our galaxy, landforms, and ecosystems. The images are also blended together to show how everything is connected on Earth, as well as the universe. I gave the book cover a more modern look in order to appeal to the younger generation.

From this project, I became more comfortable with Adobe Photoshop and learned how to use tools such as the magnetic lasso and gaussian blur. I learned how to cut out images, blur image outlines, and combine images in an aesthetically-pleasing way. I incorporated my knowledge of color theory to make the mountains stand out, while having the forest blend in.